The invention relates to a method of sorting and reading documents, and more specifically to using a captured digital image and codeline data of the document to determine orientation and sort the document according to its orientation.
Frequently, when a document has to be read, either manually or by machine, the document must first be given a proper orientation. For instance, when a check is received in a mailed envelope, the check may have one of four orientations within the envelopexe2x80x94if not properly oriented, it can be upside down, backwards, or both. Thus, documents must typically be sorted according to orientation before they are read. First, the orientation of the each document must be determined. Then each document will be reoriented to a desired orientation, if necessary, such that it can be read. Orienting each document may include sorting each document according to its orientation. The process of having to orient the document before reading it can make the associated machinery more expensive to produce and maintain.
The Opex 150, a sorter from the Opex Corporation, operates using the above process. The machinery opens an envelope, removes one or more documents from the envelope, determines its orientation, and then routes the document according to its orientation. The document can then be read.
Japanese Patent No. 1-209247 to Nakano discloses an automatic sorter for mail. Using a video camera, the device scans a letter to determine which orientation the letter has. Based upon this determination, the sorter first sorts the letters into four possible orientations and then routes the different orientations such that the letters end up in the same orientation. The letters are then read. The disadvantage with the Opex 150 and Nakano apparatus is that documents must be physically reoriented before they can be read, which makes the apparatus more complex and difficult to maintain.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,431 to Hayduchok et al. discloses a system for orienting documents in the automated processing of bulk mail and the like. The system acquires a digital image of both sides of a document. From these images, the system determines the orientation of the document by analyzing the pixels of the image at preselected areas of the document. The document is then reoriented for further processing if necessary. As with the above system, the disadvantage to this system is that the document must be physically reoriented before it can be read.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,431 to Stevens et al. discloses a method for automated mail extraction and remittance processing. The disclosed method involves presenting to an operator only the documents of windowed envelopes in which the checks are oriented in the same manner as the coupon, while removing the other documents from the processing path. Disadvantageously, this method only can be used for windowed envelopes. Furthermore, the method involves only manually reading the documents and sorting the documents according to their orientation before reading them.
What is desired, therefore, is a method of processing a document, which can include either a check or a coupon, in which the actual document does not have to be manually or machine reoriented before the information on the document is read.
Accordingly, an object of the present method is to provide a method of reading and sorting documents according to each document""s orientation in which the documents do not need to be reoriented before they can be processed on a document transport.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method of the above type in which documents can be read in all four possible orientations.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method of the above type in which both checks and coupons can be read and later sorted by orientation.
These objects of the invention are achieved by a method for reading and sorting documents, which generally comprises staging each document for processing, capturing a digital image of the front side and the back side of each document, determining the physical orientation of each document using digital orientation recognition software, reading the information from each document, sorting the documents by orientation, and then communicating the information read from each document to a posting system. Optionally, the image of the document can be automatically oriented and then read. The documents, among other things, can include checks and coupons. When the document is a bank check, the method further comprises sorting the check by orientation, encoding the check, endorsing the check, printing an audit trail for the check, preparing a cash letter and sending the check to the bank.